The latest in street artist Felipe Pantone’s stunning Optochromie series splashes across the facade of the Town Ballroom concert hall in Buffalo, New York, giving it a dramatic makeover. Black and white geometric prints overlaid with prismatic pixelated colors interplay with stretched out metallic elements, all created in computer modeling programs before they were painted onto the wall.

For fans of Pantone, this is familiar imagery reimagined in a fresh new way. The self-taught multidisciplinary artist, who does a lot of gallery work as well, is known for juxtaposing graphic patterns to achieve dynamic compositions, sometimes in sculptural form. Pantone’s signature style is highly influenced by the look of computer graphics in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when he was a child

The artist, who began painting on the streets as a preteen, cites Op Art and Kinetic Art of the 1960s as additional major influences, including the work of Victor Vasarely, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Julio Le Parc and Luis Tomasello.

“I was always trying, as every graffiti writer, to stand out in the streets so I started to emphasize on the contrast pictorially ending each piece in black and white,” Pantone says in an interview with Wide Walls. “I ended up realizing that by painting so much black and white I was approaching nearly optic pieces, so I slowly started adding up the full colour spectrum, which made my pieces more visible, with fluorescent colours. Quoting Joan Fontcuberta, there are more images generated than the number which we can consume, and as the artist has to out stand and graffiti has so much to do with art, I thought I should focus my effort on remaining visible over time.”

Can you think of an iconic electronic object for every letter of the alphabet? A for Apple, B for Bose, C for Canon, D for Dell and so on, all the way to Z? Graphic designer Vinicius Araujo found the most obvious (and satisfying) answer for all 26 letters and crafted them into renderings of appropriately shaped electronics. The series, which he calls ‘36days Electronics,’ is based on the Helvetica typeface.

For Apple, there’s a classic Macintosh computer with a floppy disk drive; Bose looks like a speaker; Epson is a printer; Motorola is the most ancient of cell phones; Sony’s a Walkman.

Functionality isn’t the point here – a computer monitor shaped like a D obviously isn’t going to do you much good. But it’s a fun visual exercise that will likely spur some nostalgia for the technology days of yore – or perhaps gratitude that our gadgets have evolved.

See more photos at Vinicius Araujo’s Behance portfolio.

What is it that makes a truly effective piece of graphic design? Is it just the skill that allows an artist to balance shape, color, texture, typography, photography and negative space to send a message – or is there a bit of magic to it? Creative talent is a tricky and elusive thing for most of the population, but some lucky people have it in spades.

These 15 graphic designers have managed to create work that stands out in a crowded field, using a diverse array of techniques, programs and materials.

Joshua Davis

Joshua Davis is one of the most influential talents in the history of graphic design, with an incredibly vast portfolio of work that has made a deep impression upon many other graphic artists worldwide. Davis, who is now a professor at New York’s School of Visual Arts, pioneered a type of graphic design that utilizes Flash-based programs that he created himself to build images of “dynamic abstraction”, as Davis himself describes them.

“Working this way allows me to generate an infinite number of compositions,” Davis explains in an Apple Pro Profile. “I set the boundaries and the rules, but whatever comes out at the end is a surprise. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It could look cool. It could fail. It could be life-changing. There’s always a surprising sense of discovery with this process, because I’m setting up an environment and allowing a scenario to live within it.”

Pawel Kaminski

There’s a sense of movement and urgency in every single one of Pawel Kaminski’s designs, something that gives them a vitality that can’t be ignored. Kaminski, of Poland, is quoted by SpeckyBoy as saying “I wouldn’t attribute my design passion to any serious philosophy, I feel this is a good way for artists and designers, you have to be open to most adventures from life. And sometimes a simple lack of words can be easily expressed through illustrations and art, design what you love.”

Chuck Anderson

If there’s one element that ties all of Chuck Anderson’s creations together, it’s light. Anderson’s work is bursting with light effects that make his designs crackle with intensity. The prolific young designer has worked with an impressive range of clients including Paste Magazine, ESPN, Reebok, Absolut Vodka and Honda.

Anderson told Abduzeedo, “I don’t think I really have a set source of inspiration. To be honest, I just really love creating things that are striking and fun and vibrant. Things that jump out as far as color goes. You’ll see in my work a lot of times really intense light and color – I really enjoy creating things that feel supernatural and like they came straight out of my imagination.”

Dries Schaballie

Graphic design, concept art, art direction, illustration, 3-D modelling – Dries Schaballie does it all. Co-founder and director of Sevenedge Interactive Media, Schaballie has a fascinating portfolio of works that are alternately dreamlike, gritty and playful.

Simone Magurno

San Francisco-based, Italian-born graphic designer Simone Magurno has worked with Nike, Microsoft, Xbox, Target, GAP and many other clients and her work has been featured in Computer Arts Magazine and Digital Arts Magazine. Her designs, which are often web-based, have a clean, slick, modern quality that really allows the content to shine.

I Love Dust

The team at ‘I Love Dust’ design – one part Icelandic, five parts English and one part Chinese – can’t be separated from one another when it comes to their work, but their designs speak for themselves. Specializing in graphic design, illustration, motion graphics and product design, this team of creative powerhouses has one of the most distinctive styles in the biz.

Erik Finsrud/The Norik

Erik Finsrud, known as ‘The Norik’, went to school for audio engineering but fell in love with design somewhere along the way and now spends his days creating colorful graphic art for clients like Spike TV, Nestle, 1800 Tequila and Universal.

On his website, Finsrud notes, “Design to me, is about stripping away arbitrary distractions from the communicated message. Aesthetically I feel a design should be stimulating to the point of curiosity. A lot of my work also falls into illustration, which I feel is more about creating a visceral experience, although I still have a tendency to apply the minimalist principles of design.”

Paul Lee

Graphic designer Paul Lee of Los Angeles has worked with Lexus, Acura, Google, Adobe and Sony. His work has a characteristic elegant iciness to it that makes it all the more memorable, and results in a cohesive portfolio that reads almost like one continuous piece of sophisticated design.

David Mascha

Vienna-based artist and designer David Mascha who has been working with several different design studios since 2005. Mascha’s work has been displayed in exhibitions in Asia and Europe, print magazines and books and has also appeared on lamps, furniture and clothing. Mascha has a whimsical abstract style, employing bright colors and bold patterns and shapes against stark backgrounds for maximum graphic effect.

Kevin Lucius

Kevin Lucius is a graphic designer from Columbus, Ohio. Among his more recent work, an interesting retro modern aesthetic has emerged, mixing vintage colors, textures and imagery with clean, modern shapes.

Julien de Repentigny

Bold, exciting, fresh and most of all, fun: all of these words can be used to describe the work of Montreal graphic designer Julien de Repentigny. Typography takes center stage in three-dimensional designs created from materials like paper, ice and candy. Such unusual physical methods of creating his work might just make him the antithesis of completely computer-reliant graphic designers.

Kofi Ansah

Ghana-born, Italy-raised and UK-based graphic designer Kofi Ansah is only 20 years old, but his eye-catching work leaves little doubt that he has a long and distinguished career ahead of him. Ansah is currently an undergraduate student at the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in Chislehurst, Kent.

Formtroopers

Creative partners Toke Blicher Moller and Jeppe Bingestam, a.k.a Formtroopers, run a full-service progressive design studio in Denmark with a particular focus on motion and graphic design. Clients include MTV, The Discovery Channel, Pepsi and Warner Music.

Rob Morris

Australian graphic designer Rob Morris describes his style as “heavily influenced from the modernist school of design, employing simple shapes and clean typography.” His work has appeared in online design galleries, magazines and books worldwide and his clients include government departments, Broadway.com and rapper Jay-Z.

Justin M. Maller

Another Aussie, Justin M. Maller, has an altogether different style that focuses on his immense talent for illustration – but also, coincidentally, did design work for Jay-Z.  Maller, based in Melbourne, has produced concept art for a diverse array of companies worldwide and is the creative director of depthCORE, an international modern art collective.

Julien Babigeon is a French graphic designer going by the name Skooly DK. What does Skooly DK mean? How did Julien get that name? “Don’t ask me why. It’s a little bit complicated.” The most-likely tangled and twisty origin story of Julien’s “Skooly DK” moniker is an apt metaphor for his art–vintage, strange, hard to describe and, at the end of the day, simply awesome.

Music Makes Him Lose Control

(images via: ARTST)

If we start to unpack the box marked “Who Is Skooly DK,” sitting at the very top will be a stack of LPs. Some of his most inspired designs and some of his more innovative techniques have been applied to album covers, gig posters and other music-related materials.

There’s a reason for that–in the artist’s own words: “I can admit that i really love to work on record covers… i’m a big music lover.” Skooly’s diverse work can be seen on covers for Ninja Tune, Dutch Rhythm Combo and Birdy Nam Nam, among other acts and artists.

Old Skool

(images via: ARTST)

When asked to describe his artwork, Skooly DK is at a loss for words; there are too many inspirations, too many thoughts and ideas and THINGS just going on in each picture for him to point his finger at one or two influences or overarching concepts.

But when pressed further, Skooly comes up with an answer that begins to cut to the bone of his work: “I’m really inspired by vintage advertisings, american types, pop art, op-art, psychedelic shapes and punk stuff.”

From fold lines and stains to color schemes straight out of the late 70s, Skooly’s work, while fresh and new and as crisp as any late ‘aughts design work out there, is firmly rooted in the idea of vintage.

There’s an instant likability factor to Skooly’s work that comes out of that vintage old school-ness; nostalgia as a foot in the door. And that’s the key to an upper hand in the art world in the viral video era–have a hook and make ’em think they know your stuff, and you’re golden.

Alliteration Is Always Amazing

(images via: ARTST)

It’s true.

But beyond that, Skooly’s on to something here–alliteration plus snacks plus cartoons plus a coat of vintage paint equals brilliant design. This bite size (pun intended) punny word game art is simple and great; it’s the kind of poster begging to be shared on Twitter or Facebook, the kind of poster you want to send to three friends.

Space Face

(images via: ARTST)

If there’s a bridge over the gap between the art and music of the 70s and 80s and the art and music of today, it’s probably in outer space. After all, Mars is apparently the home to both David Bowie and Lil Wayne.

Skooly DK’s space-inspired artwork follows the same path–vector graphics techniques and computerized colors collide with old school cut-out techniques and moldy old photographs, making something entirely new.

Perhaps these pieces are Skooly’s way of staring into his future… and his past–forward and backward, all at the same time.

“Whoa.”-Keanu Reeves

To see more of Skooly DK’s work, head over to his profile on ARTST.